Sacred Altar Space Story
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How An Altar Came Alive.
Once, I hosted a Winter Solstice ceremony in my home, and the
participating group established a Medicine Wheel in the center of the room to
use as an altar. Cedar boughs from my yard formed a circle on the floor, and
we placed stones and candles in each of the 5 directions. Each person at the
ceremony brought a gift for the altar (flowers, small rocks, icons) and
allowed their intuition to guide the placement of these gifts. The ceremony
we held was quite powerful and the Medicine Wheel seemed filled with magic.
Afterwards, even though the Wheel was in the center of the living room
floor, I couldn't bring myself to dismantle it and decided to leave it up for
a day or two.
The days turned into a week and still I felt strong energy in the Wheel. I
realized that I couldn't destroy it, so I cleared a space on a table and
moved it. During the move, I smudged the new table space, and freshened and
recreated the Medicine Wheel, taking direction from my own inner promptings.
I removed some items, and added some others. I sensed a shift in the energy
of the Wheel, a very subtle dropping in group presence and picking up of my
personal energy.
As I did my daily meditations in front of the Wheel, I began to feel like I
was living in a temple, charged with the task of keeping the doorway open
between this world and the world of Spirit. The Wheel stayed on that table
for a year. Every week or so, I received inner promptings to change the
items on the Wheel. My friends would come and also place objects on the
Wheel, and then, perhaps weeks later, take them away again. Both the energy
and the appearance of the wheel was constantly shifting.
Candle lighting evolved as both the most significant and most satisfying
aspect. I lighted the candles whenever I was home and awake, establishing a very
intimate ceremony for both the lighting and the extinguishing.
I began each morning by lighting the candle and singing a welcome greeting
in each of the 5 Directions. I listened until I received an acknowledgment
that the energy was present and this practice became as real as waking and
greeting my children. I assumed this energy stayed present all day long and
I honored it. If I had to leave during the day, I blew out the candles with
a brief whisper of explanation, and, upon returning home, I relit them with a
word of greeting to the Spirits. At night, I extinguished each candle with
gratitude and a prayer, just before I crawled into bed.
Naturally, constant candle burning meant regular candle replacement. I never
removed any candle...I always let them burn out totally. I began a large
candle stash, with different shapes and colors, and allowed the Spirits to
tell me which ones to use. Energy shifts would move around the Wheel as I
would be guided to replace purple candles with white, or introduce a tall,
graceful candlestick holder or use a fat pillar candle instead of a votive.
The colors, size and shape gave me messages about significant energies that
were moving through my life.
Living with that altar as the centerpiece of my living area was an amazing
experience. One day, after about a year, I felt prompted to ceremonially take
the altar down and close that particular doorway to Spirit. Soon after that,
my life changed dramatically and a valuable period of my life came to a
close.
Now, I can bring those energies present again by simply creating a sacred
space and lighting a candle. I always listen for guidance on color and shape
whenever I use a candle because I know, for me, that a lighted candle serves
as a beacon for Spirit.
By Karen Crane
Email: kcsoul@frontier.net
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